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Rivalries are what makes football exciting. A world with no rivalries, no excitement, nothing to fight for, doesn’t make any sense.
Football has seen some top rivalries notable between Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, The Manchester-based clubs in England, The Milan based clubs in Italy.
However, rivalries are not limited to domestic competitions and UEFA Champions League has had its fair share of battles. We take a look at five rivalries, which were ignited in Europe.
#5 PSG vs Barcelona
This is more than just a rivalry. PSG and Barcelona were drawn to face each other in 1994/95, for the first time.
The notable event in this rivalry is when FC Barcelona pinched Ronaldinho from them, and the Brazilian went on to have his best year at Barcelona. PSG and Barcelona have faced each other 8 times in the past decade.
The French-based outfit won only twice. They came close to dumping Barcelona out in 2013 Quarter Finals but Pedro’s late goal helped the Blaugranas qualify on away goals.
The closest the PSG team, ever came to dumping Barcelona out was during the 2016-17 campaign.
The visiting Azulgranas collapsed to a 4-0 defeat at Parc De Princes. Angel Di Maria scored twice and was helped with strikes from Draxler and Cavani.
PSG celebrated their victory in grand fashion, they even started producing a mini-movie named “How we defeated Barcelona”.
French experts, UEFA and football critics, nobody gave Barcelona a chance to win. The odd makers predicted PSG to advance with ease.
What followed at the Camp Nou was perhaps the greatest comeback in Champions League history. Luis Suarez struck early, followed by Kurzawa’s own goal and Lionel Messi’s penalty. Edinson Cavani thought he had struck the final nail in Barca’s coffin.
From the 87th minute, it was Neymar Jr show. The Brazilian curled in a freekick, a penalty and a brilliant assist which Sergi Roberto sealed Barcelona’s comeback in a 6-1 demolition of PSG.
PSG’s inferiority complex didn’t end there. PSG president Nasser Khelaifi blocked all attempts from Barcelona to sign Marco Verratti. In turn, PSG paid the release clause of Neymar without prior negotiations with the Catalan club.
Neymar signed with PSG for a world record fee and an increased salary. Barcelona didn’t feel Neymar’s absence as his departure brought the best from Jordi Alba.
We are still to witness a lot from the two sides in the coming years. Maybe this year itself in the knockouts. It will be great to see these star-studded teams in action.
#4 Juventus vs Manchester United
Juventus and Manchester United battled out some of the liveliest encounters during the 1990s. The fans of both sides and the football fraternity alike have thrived to see the encounter again.
The last meeting between the two came in 2003. Football enjoyed the meetings between Marcello Lippi and Alex Ferguson towards the mid-1990s.
Juventus and United faced each other twice in 1996. The Old Lady came out on top on both occasions.
The tie featured some of the legends of the game including Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero, Didier Deschamps and Eric Cantona. It was Alen Boksic who scored the winner at Turin and Del Piero who struck the penalty at Old Trafford.
The encounter at Trafford next season was one of the best UEFA Champions League group stage games.
In a five-goal thriller, Del Piero scored in the first minute past Peter Schmeichel. United struck back with Teddy Sheringham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.
Zinedine Zidane scored in the 90th minute to make the game, a five-goal tie. Filippo Inzaghi was the lone scorer when the Devils visited Turin.
The best encounters between the two sides came in the semifinals of 1999. The Old Lady scored the away goal early at Old Trafford from Antonio Conte.
Giggs salvaged a strike at the last moment at Trafford to make it 1-1. Juventus’ home leg got off to the best possible starts, Inzaghi with two goals in the first 10 minutes.
Juve should have cruised to the finals but the goals came too early for them and they didn’t maintain composure.
Roy Keane and Dwight Yorke equalised in a space of 10 minutes and finally, Andrew Cole sealed United’s victory in the 84th minute.
The two teams will come head to head again this year to reignite the vintage rivalry. Paul Pogba will both go up against his former team, while Ronaldo's participation remains a doubt after his Red card against Valencia.
Allegri and Mourinho, two defence oriented managers will come face to face.
#3 Barcelona vs Inter Milan
A rivalry that was created in a matter of four games. Jose Mourinho was the prime man behind the rivalry. The Catalan club refused his services in 2008 and appointed Pep Guardiola as their coach, a decision they would never regret.
Mourinho took up a job at Inter and his chance to embarrass the Catalans came in 2009-10 semifinals of the Champions League.
Inter and Barcelona were drawn into the same group. To add some layers to this rivalry, Samuel Eto’s left Barcelona to join Inter and Inter had sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona that season itself.
In the group stage, Inter held on to the point at San Siro. At the Nou Camp, Pep Guardiola, even with Messi on the bench, managed to defeat Mourinho 2-0, with goals from Pedro and Pique.
However, the Special One had the last laugh. In the semifinal stages of the competition, Barcelona visited the San Siro hoping to make quick work of Inter. Pedro set the course in the 19th minute with the away goal.
But Inter hit back hard with Diego Milito at the center of all the action. Milito assisted twice to Sneijder and Maicon. For the icing on the cake, Milito popped up with a header of his own sending Barcelona crashing down.
Barcelona still had their away goal and a return leg at Camp Nou. The match is known better for the infamous dive by Sergio Busquets which dismissed Thiago Motta, a former Barca man himself.
But Jose Mourinho’s impregnable Inter defense held up strong against Barcelona. Gerard Pique scored for an anticlimactic finish late on the day. It was just too late and The Special One with a broad smile on his face, strode to the pitch to celebrate.
Camp Nou was having none of it. They were still the rulers in their home ground as the stadium staff drowned Mourinho by releasing the sprinkler jets. So, who had the last laugh? Seems like the Camp Nou did.
Inter and Barcelona are in the same group again. We have seen what Inter are capable of at home on matchday 1. Barcelona has their chance at redemption.
#2 Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich
The two European powerhouses have faced each other 22 times in all competitions. Real Madrid has the slight edge with 11 wins compared to the nine for FC Bayern Munich. Real Madrid had their golden era during 1950-60s and Bayern Munich in the 1970s.
The Black Beast as Bayern is called is not a superlative term. To understand it we have to go back to three decades ago. In the 1987 Champions League Semi-Finals, Bayern demolished Real Madrid 4-1.
The match, however, is the one which ignited bad blood between Madrid and Munich. Real Madrid legend Juanito brought Lothar Matthaus down with a tackle. Real already on the back-foot in the game, the frustrated Juanito couldn’t keep his emotions in control.
He stamped on Matthaus’ face while Lothar grimaced in pain. UEFA banned Juanito for five years, ending his decorated career with a black mark.
Madrid and Munich were just getting started. Madrid based outlet, Marca branded Bayern captain Oliver Kahn as The Enemy.
Kahn with his charismatic leadership fit the description of The Black Beast perfectly. Bayern and Real faced each other four times in Champions League 99-00.
Bayern demolished Madrid in the group stages twice but the Galacticos shut the door on Munich’s face with a 3-2 aggregate win in the semi-finals, eventually winning the title. In the following season, 2000-01, Bayern had a hero in the form of Goivane Elber.
Elber scored in both legs of semi-finals, as Bayern dumped out Madrid avenging their loss, and went on to win the finals against Valencia.
In 2001-02, Bayern and Madrid faced in semis again. The first leg at Munich was salvaged by Bayern following two late goals from Effenberg and Pizarro. Madrid hit back in the second leg, winning by 2-0, ending the tie 3-1 on aggregate.
Madrid defeated Leverkusen in the finals to win their ninth title. In 2003-04, the R16 tie hung in the balance following a 1-1 draw at Munich.
The return leg was Zinedine Zidane's spotlight as he scored in the 1-0 win. Schweinsteiger got his first experience of Europe, perhaps a consolation for Bayern.
In 2006-07, Madrid won the first leg 3-2, in the round of 16 tie. However, in the return leg, Madrid was hit early.
As early as 10.2 seconds. The Dutch Maestro Roy Makaay struck in 10.2 seconds and the match ended 2-1 in favor of Bayern Munich.
Manuel Neuer stung Madrid with his saves in the shootout in 2011-12. Ronaldo did the same in the 5-0 hammering over two legs in 2013-14. Madrid and Munich faced each other in the quarterfinals in 2016-17.
Madrid won the first leg at Munich by a 2-1 margin. Bayern staged a tremendous fight-back at Madrid.
But controversy struck as Vidal was dismissed by referee Viktor Kassai. The match went to extra time and Real Madrid advanced thanks to Ronaldo’s goals, both of which should have been deemed offside. Referee Viktor Kassai was banned by UEFA for two years.
The latest meeting came last year and Madrid won 4-3 on aggregate. To add a fair bit of controversy, Marcelo’s hand ball in the box wasn’t given in Bayern’s favour.
Also, former Madrid man James Rodriguez who was kicked out of the team by Zizou came back to score against them.
A tie which has had it all, bad blood, heroics, controversies, legends, redemption and classic matches. One of the best rivalries in football.
#1 Barcelona vs Chelsea
This was never meant to be a rivalry. Two teams that don’t have anything against each other. Their meetings till 2000 never gave a rise to a rivalry.
Then who did? Who else? Jose Mourinho, yet again. If there is a rivalry against Barcelona then Mourinho will be at the epicentre of it.
Chelsea and Barcelona faced each other in 2005 over two legs in the round of 16. Barcelona won at the Nou Camp 2-1. The return leg at the Bridge saw Chelsea accelerate quickly to 3-0. But Ronaldinho took things on his own hands and struck two back, to level it up on aggregate. John Terry hit the final nail in Chelsea’s victory with his 74th-minute strike.
Next season, Barca would take sweet revenge, in the same stage of the game. Barcelona visited Stamford Bridge, with a little kid on their side, called Lionel Messi.
The problems that Leo caused from the right wing were countless. Robben, Del Horno, Makelele, Terry, no one seemed to get a leg on him. Nearing the halftime mark, Messi strode through the right wing and Robben powered him off the ball, Messi won it back near the baseline and turned away from Robben’s tackle.
In an attempt to go for the ball, Messi went right into the charging Asier Del Horno who bundled Leo over with full momentum. Del Horno was shown a straight red.
Mourinho blamed Messi for overdoing the effects of the tackle which didn’t go well with Cules. Lionel Messi himself developed a hatred for Chelsea. He said and I quote, “We would play Arsenal, Manchester United or anyone else than be on the same pitch as Chelsea”.
The two teams became enemies but no one thought of the heights their rivalry would reach in 2009. The Champions League semi-final 1st leg ended in a 0-0 draw.
The visit to Stamford Bridge was one of the most infamous matches in the history of the sport. It included some horrendous refereeing decisions against both sides.
Chelsea did take the lead through Michael Essien but referee Overbo was just about to start going bonkers. Prior to the goal, he failed to spot Ballack’s handball in the box. Dani Alves tackled Malouda just inside the box it seemed but Overbo gave a freekick just outside.
There was a shirt pull by Abidal on Drogba but Abidal let go of the shirt when Valdes arrived and Drogba went down with a little mix of theatrics. The shirt pull was valid and should have been a penalty but the playacting put Overbo in a dilemma.
Drogba cried for another penalty when Toure slid in on him, but Overbo go that perfectly right. The next blunder by Overbo came due to Nicolas Anelka, a dive by Anelka and Abidal was sent off.
Iniesta sealed the game with his stoppage-time winner and Drogba seemed like he would kill Overbo. A great football match ruined by a bad decision.
Though, the scars of 2009, burned on Chelsea. They returned in 2012 having won at home to Camp Nou, and Lionel Messi’s penalty off the crossbar was cleared right into the path of El Nino. Fernando Torres, Barcelona’s arch nemesis from his Atletico days, slid the ball past Valdes. The Barcelona dressing room was in tears, distorted, while Chelsea went on to lift the trophy against Bayern Munich in the finals.
Barcelona hit back last year against Chelsea in the Round of 16. The visit to Stamford Bridge was a spectacular performance by Busquets. Iniesta beat Azpilicueta for pace and won the ball from Christensen’s mistake.
He played in Messi, for his first goal against Chelsea. The Artist, Andres Iniesta, still on top of the Bridge.
The visit to Camp Nou and Barcelona send Chelsea flying with a brace from Lionel Messi. Barcelona avenged their 2012 defeat.
One of the greatest rivalries ever, which started in the Champions League.
